NEW YORK — Barneys has agreed to pay $525,000 to resolve allegations that minorities were singled out as suspected shoplifters at its flagship store, part of a spate of racial profiling complaints against major retailers last year.

Barneys shoppers and ex-employees complained that detectives followed minority customers around — even after staffers identified them as frequent patrons — and disproportionately investigated their credit card use, so much so that some salespeople even avoided serving minority shoppers so as to avoid getting calls from store investigators, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Monday in announcing the settlement with the luxury department store.

Barneys will also hire an “anti-profiling consultant” for two years

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“I feel very vindicated today. … Finally, Barneys appears to have conceded that they unreasonably followed, stopped and detained people who look just like me in their stores,” shopper Kayla Phillips, who is black, said in a statement.

Phillips said she was surrounded by police officers upon leaving the store after buying a $2,500 handbag in February 2013 with a temporary debit card. Police ultimately let her go.

250 people -- all homeless and high-frequency users of jail, detox and emergency departments at taxpayer expense -- have been tracked down by Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and Mental Health Center of Denver outreach workers and given apartments through Denver's social-impact bond program.